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"Manuals often create bad driving habits such as over-revving, riding the clutch and using the wrong gear. These are things that cause wear-and-tear, as well as increase fuel consumption and emissions."

Philip Nothard, retail and consumer specialist at CAP HPI, said running costs over three years for popular models like the Ford Focus, Nissan Qashqai and BMW 5 Series were now fairly equal regardless of transmission.

He told The Sun Online: "Automatics are becoming a lot more acceptable in the consumer world - it's no longer a clunky auto box.

"Running costs are negligible and depreciation is better for automatics. Manuals are only really for petrolheads who like to drive the car but the roads are so busy now that it's easy to have an auto."

High-end manufacturers such as Ferrari and Porsche have been phasing out the manual option for years, but now more mainstream manufacturers are ditching the stick because of reduced demand.

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Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said UK drivers were still "doggedly devoted" to traditional stick-shift as just seven per cent of the 1.5million driving tests taken last year were in automatics.

But he added: "Traditionally the automatic was regarded as more expensive to buy and thirstier to run, but the technology has improved massively in recent years to the point where it can actually offer better fuel economy than the manual alternative.

"Interestingly, many automatics give the driver the option of switching between automatic and manual control at the flick of a switch, which might well be the way autonomous driving systems get introduced in the fairly near future."